MARTHA’S VINEYARD — Residents gathered to catch a glimpse of President Obama and Michelle Obama as they arrived on Martha’s Vineyard on Saturday to begin their eight-day vacation on the island.

The president, whose day began with a speech to a convention of disabled veterans in Orlando, touched down at Martha’s Vineyard Airport in a helicopter at 3:50 p.m. He looked relaxed in a pair of beige khakis and a gray-blue shirt with the sleeves rolled up with his wife by his side.

While two mesh bags of basketballs were unloaded from one of the two Osprey V-22 helicopters, the president and his wife stepped into a black car and traveled in a motorcade to the 5,000-square-foot home on Snail Road in Chilmark where they will spend the week.

A large crowd waited outside Alley’s General Store in West Tisbury as the phalanx of Secret Service and State Police vehicles hurried by. One sign read “Sasha and Malia 2016,” a reference to the president’s two daughters, who were not in the car but are expected to join their parents on the island. First dog Bo was spotted at the airport, however.

This summer’s stay on the Vineyard is abbreviated compared with the president’s three previous vacations on the island, but White House Press Secretary Jay Carney would not say why when asked by reporters traveling with Obama on Saturday.